Top tips to help you complete your tax return

We’ve assembled untied’s top tips to make your tax filing journey plain sailing.

1. Don’t be afraid of tax

There’s lots of support out there and you will know most of what is needed already. If you are unsure about anything, it’s important to seek advice when completing your return to clarify any areas of doubt and to ensure that your submitted return is complete and correct.

2. Get organised

This will help you relax by filing your tax return early without any deadline stress. If you’re already using untied, this is not going to be a problem for you. However, if you’re going to be filing online, you’ll need a whole host of information and paperwork, including:

• Details of your income and any COVID payments.
• Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and National Insurance numbers.
• Records of relevant business expenses.
• Plus (if relevant) your P60 from your employer, P45 if you have left employment in the last year and/ or P11D or P9D which shows any benefits and expenses.

3. Know how you earn

Write a simple list of where your money comes from – this could be money you earn through an employer, through self-employment, rental income, bank or building society interest or any recent dividend payments.

4. Work through each source

You’ll find that you’ve got more information than you realise. If you’re self-employed or renting out property, your bank records – especially if connected through a product such as untied – will have a lot of the information.

5. Claim relevant expenses

HMRC allows you to deduct the costs of certain purchases that are necessary to run your business. This includes mileage if you’re self-employed or renting out property (don’t double claim fuel/car costs) and a working from home share. These costs can be deducted from your profit, and by doing so, will reduce the amount of tax you’ll owe. In general, unless something you buy for your business is a capital asset – like a car (which you claim for under different rules) – you can deduct its full cost when working out your taxable profits.

6. Think what’s different this year

This is likely to be COVID. If you’re an employee or self-employed you can get a tax reduction for costs of working from home that aren’t fully reimbursed. You may also have got COVID grants – these will generally be taxable and entered in a special section on your tax return if you’re self-employed. If you’re an employee these payments should be included on your P60. untied has a section on how to treat them here and other information can be found online.

7. Keep evidence

It’s good to use the principle of “what will help explain this transaction?” This can be a mix of paper and electronic. You don’t need to send this to HMRC, but need to have it to hand in case there are any queries.

8. File

If you think you’re ready, get your tax return filed. Obviously, you can do your tax return as early as 6 April but if you are not one of those keen beans, we urge you not to wait until 31 January to file your return. The sooner you do it the better!

9. Set aside money to pay your tax

You can file now and pay later. Once you’ve submitted your return, HMRC will tell you what to pay. You can manage any surprises with your tax bill by budgeting in advance for what you anticipate your tax bill will be and getting ahead if you need to make any payments on account. Set aside a portion of your income every month for paying tax and National Insurance contributions. The payment deadline is also January.

10. To do all this quicker and easier, use untied.

Community members enjoy a discount of 25% on untied Pro by clicking here.

If you are a member of Community and need help or advice, please contact us at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.